Of Cuts and Forgiveness
by PentoPaperGal18
Summary: After a botched mission, Kanan must learn to hear his padawan's side of the story. First fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first fanfic on here, so reviews or appreciated. This will a two or three shot. Hopefully the next chapter will be up by tommorrow or the next day. Whlep, here's part one**

Ezra stared out the glass at the moon-lit plains of Lothal, shoulders tense. Normally he would be out and about, teasing Zeb or training with Kanan, but at the moment he didn't know if he could face any member of the crew, especially the Jedi.

Yhey had just returned from a mission, one of the most important ones yet. Fulcrum had asked them to retrieve a chip hidden in a imperial base. This chip was supposed to contain highly classified information the could weaken the Empire's control on Lothal.

Then Ezra screwed up. Big time. He and Zeb had almost been killed by the bucketheads in the place because of his mistake. And the datachip was not retrieved.

Kanan had been furious. He had spent almost an hour yelling at the teen, demanding to know why Ezra hadn't beem more careful, didn't he know how important the mission was.

Ezra for his part was silent, enduring the dressing down his mentor had given him. Kanan had barely finished his tirade before Ezra fled the room.

Ezra had ran to one of the cockpits and sat down, trying his best not to let the tears flow. He didn't know what was worse; the fact that he had let his team down, or that he had practically destroyed a chance to weaken the Empire's control on Lothal.

He had been sitting there for almost an hour when he heard footsteps, coming to a stop right behind his chair.

"Look, Kanan's already screamed at me." He addressed whoever was behind him. "So I would appreciate it if you just left me alone." He didn't want to look at anyone at that point, to see the disappointment in their eyes like he saw in Kanan's.

"Who said anything about yelling?" Hera moved so she was beside him instead, kneeling. She didn't say anything, patiently waiting. To Ezra it was as if the silence was strangling him, making it hard to breathe. Wasn't she mad? Finally he couldn't take it anymore and blurted out the last thing he wanted to say.

"You guys must hate me so much right now." He tensed, waiting for Hera to confirm his fears.

The pilot reached out an hand, gently gripping his chin and turning his face to meet hers.

"Look at me kid." When he kept his eyes averted she framed his face with both hands. "Ezra Bridger, look at me." Her tone was stern, yet gentle.

When blue finally met emerald she began to speak. "No matter what you do, we could never, ever hate you. Are we angry? Maybe. Disappointed? Yes. But that dosen't mean we don't care." She tucked a strand of hair behind his ear.

"I don't ever want to catch you thinking that way again, understand?" After a moment, Ezra gave a hesitant nod. The twi-lek let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding until then.

"Good." She stood and held out a hand. " Lets get you some food. I don't think you've eaten all day."

Ezra wasn't really hungry, but allowed her to pull him to his feet and guide him toward the kitchenette.


	2. Chapter 2

As they headed toward the kitchen Ezra noticed how silent the ship was. It was never this quiet.

"Hera?" The pilot looked over her shoulder at him. "Where is everyone?"

"In bed" She replied. "It's late. As far as I know we're still up."

He almost asked why she was still up, but stopped himself before the question left his lips. It wasn't like it was his place to know.

Once there, Hera had the boy sit down while she fussed at the corner. As she fixed him a bowl of soup she watched him out of the corner of her eye. Ezra was staring down at the table's surface, zoned out.

She knew Ezra was still up and she was sure she knew the reason why. The teen looked up to Kanan and the thought that he had disappointed him was devastating to the youth. She reminded herself to talk to the Jedi about his anger issues. First and foremost she had to attend to Ezra.

Kanan in his anger, hadn't noticed how Ezra had been acting after the mission. Hera, however, had noticed how the teen favored his left side, despite his attempts to hide it. She needed to find out what was wrong.

She set the bowl down in front of him. Ezra stared at it, making no move to eat it. The pilot gave a sigh before leaning on the table.

"Alright, spit it out."

"Spit out what?" Ezra muttered sullenly.

"What happened out there, during the mission." She saw his shoulders tense.

"Why? I blew it, the mission was a failure because of me. What else do you need to know?" Ezra snapped, before suddenly going silent. Hera raised an eyebrow. She decided to just be up front.

"Really, did you think we wouldn't notice at some point?"

"What are you talking about? Notice what?" But she saw the nervousness in his eyes, confirming what she expected.

She walked over to his side of the table. She knelt beside his chair, and before her could move, grabbed the edge of his shirt and pulled it up. She sucked in a breath when she saw his side.

His ribcage was covered in the dark blue and purple of a bruise. There were several scratches present, one at least several inches long and deep enough to need stitches. Before she could check to see what was possibly a cracked rib, he yanked the shirt out of her hands and pulled it back down. He looked angry and scared.

"How could you?" He demanded.

"How could I?" Here retorted. "Your hurt and you thought you could hide it? Did you think that we would find out eventually?"

"What's the big deal?" Ezra snapped. "I've had worse, it's not like I'm dying."

"But your hurting, that's a pretty big deal to me." Hera said, frustrated. Force, when would this kid realize he wasn't alone anymore? That he didn't have to hide anything from them, especially her?

Ezra didn't answer, glaring at the soup in front of him as if it was the source of all his problems. He heard his companion sigh. He felt an arm snake around his shoulders. He almost shook her off. The gesture felt strange, foreign to him.

"Come on, eat your food and then we're going to fix you up, okay?" Her voice was gentle in his ear.

Ezra considered arguing, but knowing Hera, it would simply be a waste of time. He picked up his spoon and began to eat.

Once he had finished, Hera put the bowl in the sink and they went to the common room, where Hera pulled out a med kit and sat on the couch beside the teen.

"Shirt off." He scowled, but removed the article of clothing and allowed the older rebel to examine his wounds closer. He couldn't help flinching as she touched his side. She murmured an apology, but didn't pause in her search.

"Broken rib." She opened the kit. "That cut probably needs to be stitched up too. I've never done stitches before, but Kanan has. Let me go get him and…."

"No!" His sudden yelp startled her. She looked at the teen's fear filled face.

"Don't get Kanan, please." He begged. "Just wrap it up and it'll be fine."

"Ezra…"She felt bad for him. She knew he didn't want to bother Kanan, especially after the Jedi's blowup earlier, but she knew she had to.

"He's going to find out eventually. You can't hide you wounds from him forever." She kept her voice gentle.

"I know" Ezra fidgeted. "But…"

"No buts." She cut him off. "You stay here and I'll be right back." She stood, and with a ruffle of his hair, exited the room.


	3. Forgiveness

Hera didn't even bother knocking one Kanan's bedroom door before opening it. Kanan, meditating on his bed, opened his eyes to look at her.

Hera. Shouldn't you already be aslee…'

She cut him off. You better have a good excuse of why you haven't noticed your padawan's injuries Kanan, because I am not in the mood for this."

"Injuries? What are you talking about?" The Jedi was perplexed by both her words and her attitude.

The twi-lek crossed her arms. "I'm talking about the fact that the kid's in the common room right now, with at least one broken rib and a wound that needs to be stitched up. So help me Kanan, if I didn't need you to come and take care of him you would be dead right now."

"Are you serious?" Kanan was stunned. The child had not shown any sign of pain, anything to suggest a hidden injury.

"I am perfectly serious." She sighed. "And he tried to convince me not to tell you. You scared that poor kid out of his mind. Go in there and take care of that boy. And don't you even think of getting mad at him. That's the last thing he needs."

"Alright I'm going, I'm going." Kanan scrambled off the bed and was out the door, Hera on his heels.

….

Hera gasped in shock as they entered the common room. Her companion froze at the sight before them.

Ezra was sitting awkwardly on the couch. He held a threaded needle in one hand, his other pressing against his side as he craned his neck, trying to get a proper view of the wound. His head jerked up as the door hissed open. Seeing them, he gave a sheepish grin.

"Ummm…Hi?"

Kanan was the first to move. He strode forward and yanked the needle out of the youth's hands.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Ezra flinched at the angry tone in the man's voice. His reply wasn't any less snarky though.

"Duh, isn't it obvious?" He immediately looked away, waiting for the yelling to began. He was surprised to hear a soft breath of resignation instead.

"Oh Ezra." Kanan shook his head wearily. "What am I going to do with you?" He knelt, studying the youth's side.

"Did you even numb it?" His answer was simply the rise and fall of Ezra's shoulders. He gave another sign.

"Alright, It'll be easier to treat if you lay down. Think you can make it to my room?"

Stunned, Ezra stared at him. What happened to the angry, screaming Jedi that was there not even two hours before? He finally remembered to speak.

"Uh, sure, easy." He rose to his feet. Almost as soon as he took a step he stumbled and started to fall forward. He braced himself for impact, but felt hands grab at him and stopped his descent.

Hera touched his arm. "You okay?" Ezra nodded. He gently pulled away from the warm hands and stood on his own as proof. He grinned weakly.

"See? No big deal." He headed toward the Jedi's quarters, the older rebels not far behind.

Once there, Ezra gingerly stretched out on the bed while Kanan prepared a syringe. Hera sat down near Ezra's head, the bed dipping slightly at the added weight. She gently ran her fingers through his hair. Ezra was tempted to jerk away from her touch, unused to physical contact. But at the same time it felt soothing, calming his raw nerves.

Kanan injected the numbing medication into Ezra's side. After waiting a moment to make sure the medicine had kicked in completely, he began to stitch up the teen's side. Ezra watched the process curiously. It was nauseating, yet at the same time fastinating to watch.

Hera tilted his face up so he was looking up at her instead. "So kid" She said softly.

"How'd you end up with all these marks?" He averted his eyes.

"Umm... that's not important." He spoke quickly-too quickly, both adults noticed.

Kanan paused from his stitching to look up and arch an eyebrow. "You sure you don't have anything to share?"

"Of course not." The teen said defensively. Kanan rolled his eyes at that. He went back to his stitching, but continued to interrogate his charge.

"What did you do, run into something?"

"No! well, sorta..."

"Sorta?" Hera spoke up this time.

Ezra was silent for a moment, but seemed to realize that they wouldn't leave him alone until they managed to pry out the truth.

"During the mission, when I was crawling through the vents, I accidentally fell through a panel that hadn't been put in properly. I fell into some office and I hit the side of a desk. That's how I got cut. An imperial officer heard the noise and walked. That's how my rib was broken, him kicking me."

Hera smoothed strands of hair away from the boy's face. "How did you get away?"

Ezra smirked. "He didn't think I would grab his foot. When he fell he hit his head against the wall and was knocked out." He sobered.

"By that time other troopers had realized that something was wrong and came in. I barely managed to get away. They started chasing me. That was when I ran into Zeb. I didn't know he was in position. I didn't mean to screw the mission. I'm so sorry."

Hera stroked his forehead.

"You couldn't help it. It wasn't your fault. You didn't know about the panel."

"But..we needed those plans and…" She shushed him.

"It's okay. We're safe. That's what matters. You don't need to apologize."

Kanan looked up. "No, if anyone should apologize, it's me." He sighed.

"I let my temper get the best of me, which is what I've been trying to teach you not to do. I assumed that you did something stupid. I didn't bother to get your side of the story, or to make sure you were okay, and for that I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Ezra looked surprised, searching his mentor's face as if to make sure he was telling the truth. Finally he nodded.

"Yeah. I forgive you."

Kanan smiled. He put in the last stitched and snipped the cord.

"There, now take it easy for a week or two. Last thing we want is to pull out those stitches."

Ezra nodded. He started to rise. Kanan gently pushed him back down.

"You're staying here tonight. You don't need to be climbing onto your bunk."

"But…"

"No buts." Hera backed Kanan up with a laugh. "Do what your master says."

Ezra huffed, but conceded defeat. "Fine."

Satisfied, Hera stood and headed for the door. "Night you two."

"Night Hera." Kanan grinned. Ezra repeated him, only to yawn right afterward.

Kanan touched the teen's arm. "Rest Kid."

It wasn't long before Ezra was asleep. Kanan sat on his meditation chair, watching the boy.

He still felt guilty for his treatment of Ezra. He shouldn't have jumped onto the teen like he had. The boy didn't deserve what he had given him. The only thing he accomplished was driving the teen away, when that was the last thing Ezra needed. If it wasn't for Hera, who knows how much the teen's injuries would have worsened before they had realize it.

Ezra shifted in his sleep, then settled down. Kanan's face softened. He reached out and stroked the hand of his charge. At least he had learned a lesson in all of this.

He learned to listen.


End file.
